Running to reach out to all & create a stake in the future
Q: What do you hope to accomplish in this campaign?
ROSS: Deval keeps talking about bringing in voters who have given up. When people ask me, ‘How do you get people involved?’ one of the things is that we need to talk to real people about real issues.
I’m accomplishing something different. It’s called trying to rebuild democracy. And if we can’t have a democracy for & by the people, if all we can have is a democracy for rich folks, then we don’t have a government anymore.
PATRICK: If you think that
our campaign has been just about millionaires talking to millionaires, you’ve been missing something. This whole campaign has been about reaching out to everybody and not drawing divisions and separations, but asking people to see their stake in an
intact community- poor, middle income, and wealthy as well- because everybody has a stake in our future, everybody.
ROSS: I’m not saying that you’ve run a divisive campaign. I’m saying we need policies that are going to reach the most people.
Every election is about choice. And this time around it’s a choice between whether we stay on the path we have been on or we make a change. The path we have been on has been about the politics of fear, about the politics and the leadership of
inaction and neglect. I want us to be about the politics of hope, about action and collaboration. Every single candidate up here has a few good ideas, I have some of my own, but those ideas are going nowhere without leadership and I’ve had leadership in
government at the highest levels. I understand how to get agencies to work together. I’ve led as an executive, in two of the largest and most complicated companies in the world. I’ve led in non-profits and in community groups as well.
No one else in this race has that range of leadership experience. I’m not asking anyone to take a chance on me, I’m asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations.
HEALEY: I think it’s very important to have balance in politics. Right now 87% of the legislature are Democrats.
PATRICK: I actually don’t think that’s the balance people are looking for. Most people don’t buy 100% of what either party is selling.
I don’t. I think the balance people want is between a fairly entrenched inward-looking establishment and an outsider in the corner office- someone whose experience is broader, who didn’t grow up in the Beacon Hill culture.
Source: 2006 MA Gubernatorial debate on Fox News with Chris Wallace
Sep 25, 2006
Brings leadership and grassroots power to Beacon Hill
Q: What makes you more electable in November than your two opponents?
PATRICK: I think first of all, the point about the clarity of ideas, and the depth of them. I want to point out that we’ve put out ideas over the last year, very specific plans for
how to move Massachusetts forward. But the edge I think that I bring is leadership that includes government, but also business also non-profits, and also community groups. I’ve gotten results in every one of those contexts and no one else in this race
has this range of leadership experience. That’s one difference. Another difference is that I run a campaign that is about inviting people who have checked out to check back in, whatever their political philosophy and wherever they are in the
commonwealth. And I think that brings a different kind of power, a people power, a grassroots power to Beacon Hill. Unless we change that culture with that kind of power, all bets are off.
Patrick wins first test at caucuses, by 2-1 margin
Patrick won big among delegates at caucuses [and in the statewide delegate count] leads Reilly almost 2-1. Patrick said his showing at the caucuses was “a victory for the grass roots.” But he downplayed expectations that the results would give him a
majority at the convention. He needs 15% of convention delegates to be placed on the Sept. primary ballot. “The whole system favors insiders,” said Patrick when asked if this ensured a convention endorsement. “I just feel good we got ballot access.”
Source: By Frank Phillips and Scott Greenberger, Boston Globe
Feb 5, 2006
Galvin withdraws; it’s head-to-head against Tom Reilly
Secretary of State William F. Galvin said yesterday he will not run for governor and instead will seek reelection to a fourth term, setting up a two-person battle for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination between Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and
former federal civil rights enforcer Deval Patrick.
Barring an unexpected entry in the race, Galvin’s decision means that Democrats will have a choice in next September’s party primary between Reilly, who is aiming his candidacy at moderates and
